# What Is YOUR Responsibility Re: Credit Reports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674 "2008-06-03T19:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/1 "2008-06-03T19:46:29Z")
Question regarding your credit report. I maintain a very good payment history (on my credit card), and also on any loads I have ever taken out. However, in checking my credit report (from _xp_r\*\*n), a found out that my personal information was pretty much incorrect: 1. they listed as my employer, a company that I haven’t worked for in 8 years 2. they misspelled this employer’s name, and had a wrong street address (the building at this address no longer exists) 3. the telephone number of the employer was incorrect So, how should I address these issues? Does this outfit have any liability for publishing incorrect information about me? Can I sue? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/2 "2008-06-03T19:53:22Z")
Write them a letter with the corrections. They will investigate and make changes as appropriate. I’m not sure what you would sue for, unless you can prove damages. I’m not sure what damages you could have from an old employer being listed - perhaps a lawyer will be along with a better response than that. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/3 "2008-06-03T20:02:29Z")
You might want [to read the dispute instructions on their web site](http://www.experian.com/disputes2/basics/howtodispute.html). ---
**Author:** ![FourPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/4 "2008-06-03T20:25:01Z")
That information is manually entered by someone who pulled your credit report. Mispellings, while egregious, do not affect your credit score. Can you sue? Absolutely. People sue others every day for all sorts of nonsensical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/5 "2008-06-03T20:30:07Z")
There is really no reason to correct information about your former employers on your credit report. This information does not affect your credit score. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/6 "2008-06-03T21:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] There is really no reason to correct information about your former employers on your credit report. This information does not affect your credit score. [/QUOTE] It may not affect your credit score, but it may be an issue if a potential employer pulls a credit report and sees differences between what’s reported on a resume/application and what’s on the report. It could lead the potential employer to believe anything from the applicant made several mistakes on the application (and is thus sloppy and careless, and not good employment material) to the applicant has lied on his application. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/7 "2008-06-03T22:00:30Z")
You should really read the Fair Credit Reporting Act before considering legal action… or even taking any further action whatsoever. On edit: I’ve read of a number of FCRA-based lawsuits, but I’ve never read of any based on bogus employer info. Drop me a PM if you file, I’d love to hear the outcome. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/8 "2008-06-03T22:14:43Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] It may not affect your credit score, but it may be an issue if a potential employer pulls a credit report and sees differences between what’s reported on a resume/application and what’s on the report. It could lead the potential employer to believe anything from the applicant made several mistakes on the application (and is thus sloppy and careless, and not good employment material) to the applicant has lied on his application. [/QUOTE] Doubtful. I’ve worked on background checks for potential hires before. Nobody takes the employment information reported on credit histories seriously, because it’s all self-reported at the time of application and there is never any follow-up. When we needed to verify employment it was done by checking references the usual way; we only considered credit reports to make sure we weren’t hiring people with severe financial problems to run the accounting department or handle big stacks of money. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-responsibility-re-credit-reports/451674/9 "2008-06-04T00:11:17Z")
Incidentally, I believe uou can dispute anything on your credit report including the job history. I disputed my social security number once just to see what would happen… also because they had it wrong.